Being able to shoot from an offhand position (that is, where the human being is actually holding a rifle or a gun), especially from direct fire weapons such as sniper rifles and small firearms fired from moving platforms such as helicopters and fast attack vehicles, is always difficult no matter how good the shooter is. Some form of compensation (actually stabilization) is needed in order to significantly improve the accuracy of the firearm under these conditions. This problem may be considered somewhat similar to stabilizing a ship's antenna, except the movement being stabilized comes from a person or human being.
One technique for stabilizing a small arms fire, rather than attempting mechanical stabilization of the weapon or compensating for the moving platform or the actual erratic movement or wobble of the shooter, has been proposed by the United States Army Research Laboratory and is termed an inertial-reticle system (IRS). Here the user employs a video sighting system using a miniature monitor and positions an artificial reticle over the target. Guided by rotation or rate sensors in three axes which track the gun motion, the rifle automatically fires when the actual bore sight of the rifle aligns itself with the target reticle. This system does not stabilize the weapon itself.